The Weeknd is 'brainstorming' end of stage name
The 'Blinding Lights' hitmaker - whose real name is Abel Tesfaye - has previously spoken about the desire to get rid of his persona and suggested his upcoming movie 'Hurry Up Tomorrow' would be his last project under the moniker, but he isn't quite ready to drop it yet because of his career commitments.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: 'We're brainstorming it right now. I feel like we don't have any definite answers, but I haven't dropped it yet because I'm on tour, so I've still gotta get out there and see the fans.'
The 35-year-old star also teased he is "getting there" in the process of ditching The Weeknd.
He told People magazine: "Have I started? Yeah, it's getting there.
"I mean, I'm on tour right now, so I can't fully retire it."
The Grammy-winning star was pressed on whether the idea has brought up any emotions.
He said: "Oh, I can't tell you too much."
The Weeknd finds the idea of being famous "weird".
He said: "I've always wanted my work to be famous. I don't know if I ever wanted to be famous, so that whole skill set I haven't really mastered and I don't plan to.
"It's a weird situation, but here we are."
The 'After Hours' hitmaker recently told how he knew it was time to quit his job in a clothing store when his colleagues were enjoying his music without realising he was behind it.
Speaking to Jenna Ortega in conversation for V magazine, he said: "I've been recording since I was about 14 or 15, but I didn't really blow up until my early 20s.
"But even then, you know, inspired by Daft Punk, I wanted the music to speak for itself, right? When I put music out, nobody knew what I looked like. I was just getting off the street, not quite homeless anymore.
"I had a day job at American Apparel, and people at my job were playing my music. I had put it out. So, people were playing my music and had no idea that I was standing and working right beside them. So that to me was the validation I needed to quit my job and focus on this 110%."
The 35-year-old musician is grateful he had the "luxury" of adjusting to success while remaining anonymous for some time.
He told Jenna: "Our experiences are a little different. When I was your age, I was able to hold on to being anonymous a little longer.
"My fans didn't really know what I looked like until maybe three projects in.
"So I was very calculated because I didn't want to get thrown in, and I wanted to experience life behind the camera. It was a luxury I was able to kind of carve out for myself.
"But you're able to handle it with so much grace. I mean, the only advice I can really give you is to stay close to the people who knew you before all this."
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The Advertiser
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Top stars to attend high-powered Venice Film Festival
Hollywood stars, Oscar-winning directors, Asian heavyweights and European auteurs will vie for top honours at this year's stellar Venice Film Festival, all looking to make a splash at the start of the awards season. Running from August 27 to September 6, the 82nd edition of the world's oldest film festival will showcase a rich array of movies that spans psychological thrillers, art-house dramas, genre-bending experiments, documentaries, and buzzy studio-backed productions. Among the leading A-listers expected to walk the Venice Lido's red carpet are Julia Roberts, Emma Stone, George Clooney, Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac, Cate Blanchett and Amanda Seyfried. A who's-who of global directors will also be premiering their latest pictures at the 11-day event, including US filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow, Jim Jarmusch, Noah Baumbach and Benny Safdie, alongside top Europeans Yorgos Lanthimos, Paolo Sorrentino, and Laszlo Nemes, and Asia's Park Chan-wook and Shu Qi. 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Running from August 27 to September 6, the 82nd edition of the world's oldest film festival will showcase a rich array of movies that spans psychological thrillers, art-house dramas, genre-bending experiments, documentaries, and buzzy studio-backed productions. Among the leading A-listers expected to walk the Venice Lido's red carpet are Julia Roberts, Emma Stone, George Clooney, Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac, Cate Blanchett and Amanda Seyfried. A who's-who of global directors will also be premiering their latest pictures at the 11-day event, including US filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow, Jim Jarmusch, Noah Baumbach and Benny Safdie, alongside top Europeans Yorgos Lanthimos, Paolo Sorrentino, and Laszlo Nemes, and Asia's Park Chan-wook and Shu Qi. Netflix, which skipped Venice last year, returns in full force in 2025 with a trio of headline-grabbing titles, including Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein", a new take on the classic horror tale starring Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth. Baumbach's comedy-drama Jay Kelly, starring Clooney, Adam Sandler and Laura Dern, is also in the main competition and on the Netflix slate, alongside the geopolitical thriller A House of Dynamite, with Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, and directed by Bigelow, who won an Oscar in 2010 for The Hurt Locker. Venice fires the starting gun for the awards season, with films premiering on the Lido in the last four years collecting more than 90 Oscar nominations and winning almost 20, making it the place to be seen for actors, producers and directors alike. In the past nine editions of the Oscars, the award for Best Actress or Best Actor has gone eight times to the protagonists of films first seen in Venice, including Stone for her role in Poor Things in 2024. Stone returns to Venice this year, teaming up again with Poor Things director Lanthimos in an offbeat satire, Bugonia. The indie icon of US cinema, Jim Jarmusch, will be showing his Father Mother Sister Brother, a three-part tale exploring fractured families with a cast that includes Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Adam Driver and Tom Waits. European auteurs are well-represented, with Paolo Sorrentino's La Grazia, starring Toni Servillo, selected as the festival's opening film, while Hungary's Nemes presents the family drama Orphan and France's Francois Ozon showcases his retelling of Albert Camus' celebrated novel The Stranger. One standout is the new thriller by Olivier Assayas, which centres on the rise of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Wizard of the Kremlin will be shown in competition. Jude Law plays Putin, with Alicia Vikander and Paul Dano also starring. The story is told from the perspective of a fictional adviser. A film that looks certain to raise emotions is Kaouther Ben Hania's The Voice of Hind Rajab, which uses original emergency service recordings to tell the story of a five-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed in Gaza in 2024 after being trapped for hours in a vehicle targeted by Israeli forces. "I think it is one of the films that will make the greatest impression, and hopefully (won't be) controversial," said the festival's artistic director, Alberto Barbera, his voice trembling as he recalled the movie. Hollywood stars, Oscar-winning directors, Asian heavyweights and European auteurs will vie for top honours at this year's stellar Venice Film Festival, all looking to make a splash at the start of the awards season. Running from August 27 to September 6, the 82nd edition of the world's oldest film festival will showcase a rich array of movies that spans psychological thrillers, art-house dramas, genre-bending experiments, documentaries, and buzzy studio-backed productions. Among the leading A-listers expected to walk the Venice Lido's red carpet are Julia Roberts, Emma Stone, George Clooney, Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac, Cate Blanchett and Amanda Seyfried. A who's-who of global directors will also be premiering their latest pictures at the 11-day event, including US filmmakers Kathryn Bigelow, Jim Jarmusch, Noah Baumbach and Benny Safdie, alongside top Europeans Yorgos Lanthimos, Paolo Sorrentino, and Laszlo Nemes, and Asia's Park Chan-wook and Shu Qi. Netflix, which skipped Venice last year, returns in full force in 2025 with a trio of headline-grabbing titles, including Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein", a new take on the classic horror tale starring Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth. Baumbach's comedy-drama Jay Kelly, starring Clooney, Adam Sandler and Laura Dern, is also in the main competition and on the Netflix slate, alongside the geopolitical thriller A House of Dynamite, with Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, and directed by Bigelow, who won an Oscar in 2010 for The Hurt Locker. Venice fires the starting gun for the awards season, with films premiering on the Lido in the last four years collecting more than 90 Oscar nominations and winning almost 20, making it the place to be seen for actors, producers and directors alike. 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Netflix, which skipped Venice last year, returns in full force in 2025 with a trio of headline-grabbing titles, including Guillermo del Toro's "Frankenstein", a new take on the classic horror tale starring Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth. Baumbach's comedy-drama Jay Kelly, starring Clooney, Adam Sandler and Laura Dern, is also in the main competition and on the Netflix slate, alongside the geopolitical thriller A House of Dynamite, with Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, and directed by Bigelow, who won an Oscar in 2010 for The Hurt Locker. Venice fires the starting gun for the awards season, with films premiering on the Lido in the last four years collecting more than 90 Oscar nominations and winning almost 20, making it the place to be seen for actors, producers and directors alike. 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Billy Idol believes Ozzy Osbourne 'went out his way'
Ozzy Osbourne "went out his way", according to his friend Billy Idol. The Black Sabbath star passed away on Tuesday (22.07.25) aged 76 just two weeks after he reunited with his bandmates for their massive Back to the Beginning farewell show in their hometown of Birmingham, England - and the rocker's longtime pal Billy has admitted he's still "in shock" over the loss of the Prince of Darkness. He told The Hollywood Reporter: "I guess he went out his way. I'm still in a little bit of shock because just over two weeks ago, he was on that Back to the Beginning stage in Birmingham. "I didn't expect this to happen, really. But I suppose that's the way it always is ... Just two weeks ago, he was on that stage having the time of his life. He really seemed to be enjoying himself." Billy explained he has known Ozzy and his wife Sharon for "a long time" and went on to compare the wild man of rock to late music legend David Bowie. He added: "He's like David Bowie. Ozzy's always been here as an inspiration for those of us who love music, showing us the way to survive through it all. "Incredible, really. It's hard to believe that both are dead now. Ozzy was just so alive, he had so much personality … being in the moment and enjoying it. His music was like that as well." Ozzy's death was confirmed by his family in a statement which read: "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love. "We ask everyone to respect our family privacy at this time. Sharon, Jack, Kelly, Aimee and Louis." It has since been reported that Ozzy passed away at his home in Buckinghamshire, UK and his daughters had flown in from Los Angeles to be with him. Tributes have been pouring in from across the world, and Ozzy's longtime bandmate Tony Iommi admitted he was completely heartbroken by the news of his friend's death. In a post on X, Iommi wrote: "I just can't believe it! My dear dear friend Ozzy has passed away only weeks after our show at Villa Park. "It's just such heartbreaking news that I can't really find the words, there won't ever be another like him. Geezer, Bill and myself have lost our brother. My thoughts go out to [Ozzy's wife] Sharon and all the Osbourne family. Rest in peace Oz.'
